Neo-Nazi Pavel Sládek Matějný is the organizer of anti-Roma demonstrations in the town of Duchcov and the anti-Roma march in the town of Vítkov on 3 August 2013. He is captured in this photo from Antifa.cz giving the Nazi salute by the flag of the Third Reich with the iron cross (figure on the left). The photo was taken at an event called the “W. P. Officially Unofficial International Conference of Nationalists” organized by neo-Nazi Jaromír Pytel, who also helped organize one of the anti-Romani marches in České Budějovice in the summer of 2013.Czech Republic: Splinter DSSS faction plans 13 more anti-Romani events by year’s end

All of the right-wing extremists in the Czech Republic are currently feeling the need for publicity because of the upcoming elections next year (some of which may take place later this year). Now we can expect more violent election-related events than ever before because the Workers’ Social Justice Party (Dělnická strana sociální spravedlnosti – DSSS) has split into two groups.

As news server Romea.cz previously reported, the first of these groups will continue to be led by party chair Tomáš Vandas while the second is calling itself the Democratic Workers’ Party (Demokratická strana pracujících – DSP). According to the information available, Petr Kotáb has been elected the chair of the preparatory committee for this new party, which will have vice-chairs Lucie Šlégrová, Pavel Sládek Matějný and František Karel Ladislav. Their members all come from the North Bohemian neo-Nazi cell of the former Workers’ Party (DS) and its successor, the DSSS.

Ultra-right extremism flourishing

Kotáb was once a vice-chair and top candidate in the regional elections for both the DS and DSSS. Last year he almost made it onto the Regional Authority Council in Ústí nad Labem.

During the last regional elections, the DSSS received more than 4 % of the vote in the Ústí region. Kotáb was suspected of at least two instances of violating the Law on Assembly and was given a suspended sentence together with several other DSSS representatives for speeches made at a 1 May demonstration in Brno in 2009, but he and other right-wing extremists were eventually granted amnesty for these crimes by former Czech President Václav Klaus.

At an anti-Romani demonstration in the town of Nový Bydžov in March 2011, Kotáb said the following about Romani people (among other things): “We will not be terrorized. The time will come when these problems will be… decisively and effectively solved.”

Lucie Šlégrová and her brother Jiří Šlégr (who should not be confused with the Czech hockey player) are also known characters. Šlégrová has been prosecuted for various crimes and is the media icon of the right-wing extremist fighters because of her tattoo with a drawing of a worker and the slogan “My honor is loyalty”. Miroslav Mareš, a leading expert on extremism who is also a political scientist, says that slogan was the motto of the Nazi SS, the most remorseless of the Nazi regime’s armed units.

Šlégrová also enjoys producing images of herself dressed in the latest “workers’ ” fashions, such as a t-shirt featuring the name of the neo-Nazi band Weisse Wolfe and stylized insignia of the Hitlerjugend (Hitler Youth) and the SS. Moreover, as was proven during the trial of the DS, Šlégrová has been captured in photographs giving the Nazi salute.

An ultra-right People’s Militia (Lidové milice)

Another action group, sort of an ultra-right People’s Militia calling itself the Czech Lions (Čeští lvi – ČL) is now being managed by Pavel Sládek Matějný, who claims to be from Chotěbuz and is active in ultra-right extremist events all over the Czech Republic. It was Matějný who recently led a group of neo-Nazi street brawlers in Duchcov during an anti-Romani demonstration there.

“This isn’t just our route, it’s our town!” Matějný shouted during the demonstration. A moment later, the right-wing extremists attacked the police officers present. Video footage of the incident is available at http://www.romea.cz/cz/zpravodajstvi/domaci/odstepenecka-frakce-z-dsss-chysta-serii-protiromskych-akci-ve-vitkove-ji-organizuje-neonacista-pavel-sladek-matejny . (Matějný is the man with the shaved head in the white t-shirt and black pants).

Matějný is also known from many other right-wing extremist events, such as DSSS meetings with German neo-Nazis. He was captured in a photo (see above) by Antifa.cz giving the Nazi salute by the flag of the Third Reich with the iron cross (he is on the left). The photo was taken at an event called the “W. P. Officially Unofficial International Conference of Nationalists” organized by neo-Nazi Jaromír Pytel, who also recently helped organize one of the anti-Romani marches in České Budějovice.

Antifa.cz reports that František Karel Ladislav, another vice-chair of the soon-to-be DSP, has appeared on Facebook and may still be appearing there under the name of Karel Kubrt. He also participated in Pytel’s international conference and in many other right-wing extremist meetings.

13 violent events by the end of 2013

“We are of the opinion that there is not much risk of organized fighting. That’s not their style today, they are mainly doing their best to get into politics through legal avenues. That’s where they have a chance of changing something,” Valerie Bartošová, spokesperson for the Ústí Regional Police, said in April of this year immediately after the split within the DSSS took place.

This is not the first time (and it definitely will not be the last) that a ministerial or police “expert” on right-wing extremism has been mistaken. The spokesperson is not responsible, as she is merely repeating what the officers have told her.

Kotáb himself rejected the idea in April that he might be preparing to get attention through riots or other stunts. “I can’t quote from a party program at the moment,” he said, “but we will base it on the previous ideas. I don’t want to be the chair, that will be a person from the realm of academia.”

Starting this July, the splitters have prepared a total of 13 publicity-generating events between now and the end of the year (and the DSSS is planning others) in Bohumín, České Budějovice, Duchcov, Frýdek-Místek, Havířov, Krupka, Litvínov-Janov, Most-Chanov, Ostrava, Prague, Přerov, Ústí nad Labem, and Vítkov. All of these events, naturally, are targeting Romani people. Based on our experiences to date, they will most probably be violent, involving attempted lynchings or pogroms.

In some towns, local government has already banned the events. According to information that has yet to be thoroughly verified, the local governments are those of České Budějovice, Duchcov, Frýdek-Místek and Prague. The decisions as to whether these events will take place (or at least, the authorities’ decisions) will come from the courts should the splitters sue the local governments.

Neo-Nazis holding event in Vítkov

The right-wing extremists also want to demonstrate in the Silesian town of Vítkov, where several years ago the worst-ever arson attack on a Romani family took place, causing serious burns to Natálie Kudriková, who was not quite two years old at the time, and both of her parents. She will suffer from the medical repercussions of that attack for the rest of her life and her entire family, including her three sisters, continue to suffer serious psychological after-effects.

The proponents of the ultra-right intend to march through the town on Saturday, 3 August. At the same, a “happening” in support of local Romani residents has been organized by the Equal Opportunities Party (Strana rovných příležitostí – SRP).

The right-wing extremists’ demonstration, called “Our town, our streets”, will begin on Jan Zajíc Square. Approximately 200 people have announced they will definitely be there on Facebook and another 150 announced they will probably be there.

The people planning to attend are coming not only from Brno, Prague, and other corners of the Czech Republic, but also from Slovakia. News server iDNES.cz reports that the route for the march through Vítkov is roughly seven kilometers long.

The organizer of the march, neo-Nazi Matějný, has admitted that he chose Vítkov on purpose. “You know what is going on throughout the country,” he said. “In České Budějovice, in Duchcov. We want to draw attention to the unfair sentences that were handed down in the Vítkov scandal and to the low sentences handed down in other cases. Vítkov is a symbol.”

Mayor Smolka has pointed out that it will be mostly people who live elsewhere coming to Vítkov to further irritate the situation there. He does not like the idea.

“I’m not saying we don’t have problems. We are dealing with residential hotels for the socially vulnerable and locals are not enthusiastic about the influx of such people. However, it is definitely not an explosive situation here,” Smolka explained.